The Best Gift I Brought Upon Myself
by larissa r
Summary: Sirius is back, of course, through Hermione's research, and he is 25. She is supposed to teach him about 2005 but what happens when things go further? CHAPTER 3 UP. OotP Spoilers
1. Introduction

DISCLAIMER: If I owned this, do you really think I'd be doing a fanfic? It'd be in a real book.  
  
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b The Best Present, I Brought Upon Myself /b  
  
i...She had just interpreted the prophecy. Well, not entirely. It had already been deciphered, she just picked up a bit of information no one seemed to have noticed. She had to tell Dumbledore!...Now!.../i  
  
"DUMBLEDORE!" She woke with a start. The bright white light that existed in only one place (the Hogwarts Infirmary) greeted her. Along with something else.  
  
"Yes, I am Miss.Granger. Is there something troubling you?" he asked, concern apparent in his voice.  
  
"No, nothing. Just a flashba-nightmare," she replied. She'd been having the dreams since Harry and so many others, both good, and bad, died that fateful night. Was it already four years ago? It seemed like yesterday. She could hear the screams, smell the burnt flesh, feel the...  
  
"Miss. Granger, perhaps it would be wise not to think about that," he said sternly. Then added:"Today, of all days."  
  
"Toda-" she was cut off by her ancient friend handing her a package.  
  
"September the ninteenth, 2005." he said proudly. "Your twenty-fifth birthday. Ron and Luna have given you a new set of encyclopedias: 'The A-Z Encyclopedia of Magical Foods, Drinks, and Gnomes'. Odd combination. Definately Luna does the shopping...Ah, Draco and Ginny send you a whole new wardrobe of dress robes...A bit small though...I think they're in house-elf size...I think you brought the best present upon yourself. The results are back from the Department of Mysteries. Your data was, unsurprisingly, correct. Unfortunately, a few they brought out are now mere infants, and will be going to foster homes. But someone has come to see you."  
  
A person walked in the room. He seemed like a ghost of someone she'd once known. i Or, /i she thought, slightly amused. i A younger version of a certain black-haired, blue-eyed, someone who'd been 'lost' in the Department of Mysteries. A twenty-five year old version, if her memory served her correct./i  
  
"Sirius!" Hermione exclaimed as she jumped up to hug the man she'd missed for over nine years.  
  
"Hey, Hermione, how screwed up is this?" He asked jokingly. "I'm the same age as you! Hermione? Let-Go-I-Need-To-Breathe." She released her bear-hug, but not before going into a mocking sulky mood.  
  
"Fine then! Be like that!"  
  
"Ever the drama queen, that one, eh? So, where's Harry?" He regretted that moments after it came out. He felt Hermione and the great wizard on his left stiffen.  
  
"He died. Battling Voldemort. The prophecy, one had to kill the other, Harry killed Voldemort. He...was injured...died...St.Mungo's...week later..." She had begun to sob. "They had...to kill...each other..." The tears were flowing unchecked. Sirius draped one arm around her shoulders and patted her on the back with the other.  
  
"When?"   
  
"Four years ago." Although Hermione had stopped crying, none noticed Dumbledore had left before the tears started.  
  
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AN: This is my first i real /i fic. Please tell me how I am doing.  
  
-Larissa R. 


	2. Reacquainting

Disclaimer: Not Mine. Don't sue.   
  
The Best Gift I Brought Upon Myself  
  
Chapter Two: Reacquainting  
  
"Tell me why we're doing this again," said Sirius in an irritated voice.  
  
"We are doing this because I don't fancy explaining what the veil does more than once," Hermione explained slowly, as if she were speaking to a small child, rather than a full grown man.  
  
"Fine. I just don't like crowds. They might..." He trailed off, visions of Azkaban flooding his mind.  
  
"Don't worry. About a month after you 'died' Pettigrew thought he could do anything, the idiot," she scowled. "They caught him having a butterbeer at the Hog's Head. Dung and Hagrid got him."  
  
"So, I'm free?" Sirius looked like Christmas had come early.  
  
"Exacty. Now, today, you get to meet Ron, Luna, Ginny, Draco, and their little terrors." As if on que, said "terrors" fell out of the fireplace, followed by their annoyed, yet loving parents.  
  
"Oi, 'Mione. Where's this surprise?"  
  
"Ronald Weasley! How many times do I have to tell you: Say 'Hi' first. Do not ask for food, drinks, presents, etcetera, until saying 'hi'." Ginny scolded her older brother. Then, as if to make an example, she turned to Hermione and said:"Happy Birthday!" engulfing her in a hug.  
  
"Thanks for the presents," Hermione said. "Everyone, sit down there's someone here to meet you." She led Sirius into the room. His feet were immediately attacked by four children between the ages one and three.  
  
"They are terrors," he growled while attempting to walk.  
  
"Blimey!" Ron again. "Sirius never told me he had a son!"  
  
"That's because I don't," he turned to Hermione. "I thought, with you being so smart and all, that you would have intelligent company."  
  
"Well if that's true, why would you be my friend?" Hermione retorted.  
  
"Hermione, Ron, and Sirius, could you please stop bickering and tell me why we have a dead, but alive person, who appears much younger than he should, in the room with us?" Ginny snapped  
  
"You know I'm an Unspeakable, like Luna, but unlike her, I have been working on the Mystery of Time, and not the Science of Experimental Spells. Well I had a breakthrough in my research and this is what happened..."  
  
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Can someone please tell me how the italic, underline, bold, etc. tags go because I had problems with them last chapter. Thanks for the reveiws. I didn't expect that many.  
  
-Larissa 


	3. Explanations

Disclaimer: If this was mine, it would be in a book.  
  
The Best Gift I Brought Upon Myself  
  
Chapter Three: Explanations.  
  
"Wait a minute," Sirius interrupted. "If you're an Unspeakable, why are you talking."  
  
"Hermione," Ginny cautioned. "You know how Dumbledore feels about spells cast on people who don't approve of it."  
  
"What sort of spell?" asked Sirius, unsure if he really wanted to know.  
  
"Nothing really, unless you try to betray me," said Hermione. "It just stops you from telling people things they're not suppossed to know. If you tell someone something about my job that they don't already know, you'll go into a deep coma-like sleep for a few days. That's all. Only Luna and I can tell people new things."  
  
"I see," said Sirius, dropping onto a chair. "Now please go on with your lect-explination on how you got me out. Oh, and why I am nine years younger than I was when I got in."  
  
"Well," began Hermione. "I had a theory that the veil worked something like 'The Monster book of Monsters'-you know, how you have to stroke the spine to open it? Well, I found some odd stain-like patterns on the fabric. Everyone thought they were stains, so they were overlooked. I noticed they were too perfectly shaped, and too symmetrical to be normal stains, so I tried something. I ran my fingers on them, one at a time, then voila, a sixteen year old girl came out. We had her questioned and she turned out to be Luna's mom."  
  
"When I was nine she vanished after casting a new spell," Luna commented. "It's very odd when your mother is younger than you."  
  
"Yes, well," Hermione searched for the right words. "Since I was in charge of the veil case, I was told to study Mrs. Lovegood and I found something out. She was thirty when she went in, and sixteen when she came out. She was in fourteen years, and came out fourteen years younger. I had a new theory. The victims of the veil lost a year of age for every year they were trapped. If they were stuck in longer than they had lived, they died. Some people who lost someone in the veil stayed to watch the 'Freeing of the Victims' as it was called. I stayed, saw you, blacked out, and woke up in the hospital wing. Now we're here."  
  
"So that's what Dumbledore meant by that 'infant' line back in the Hospital Wing," Sirius mused. "Why do you live at Hogwarts. I've been meaning to ask."  
  
"I live at Hogwarts because Luna and I teach the whole school about new spells for an hour every two weeks," Hermione answered. "Luna lives down the hall. We both have partners who help us teach. There are eight pairs of two. Two pairs per house, one pair for the First through Fourth years, and one pair for Fifth through Seventh years. My partner is Seamus Finnigan and we teach Griffindor Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh years. He lives on the other side of the study which is there." Hermione pointed at a door on the far side of the room.  
  
"I work with Terry Boot," piped up Luna. "He doesn't live with us because I'm married. He visits often."  
  
"Too often," growled Ron. He recieved glares from the females while Draco was shaking in suppressed laughter.  
  
"I have a question about that spell," said Sirius. Hermione wondered if he participated this much in school. "If I don't know someone's eavesdropping, do I still sleep?"  
  
"No," said Draco boredly. "The eavesdropper falls asleep and forgets everything that happend in that day."  
  
"I see. Where's Moony?" asked Sirius, curius about his friend. "And why was Ginny so mean to Ron this morning?"  
  
"You remember everything don't you?" grumbled Ginny.  
  
Draco nodded knowingly and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. "They're both on their time of month, if you get my drift." Ginny kicked him lightly in reply.  
  
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Sorry I didn't update for so long. I was sick and asleep for most of the time. Hope you liked this. If you need anything explained better, just say it in a reveiw. Kat, I hope this chapter helped you understand better.  
  
Larissa. 


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